Revised Trump travel and refugee order to go before U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday announced that it would hear argument on the third version of President Donald Trump’s travel and refugee plan, which would limit visits to the United States by people from certain Muslim-majority nations, and slow down the number of refugees accepted into the country.

Arguments will take place in April, with a ruling expected by the end of June, instantly making this into one of the more important cases of the High Court’s term.

“We look forward to the Court’s review of this important case,” said lawyer Neal Katyal, who has represented the state of Hawaii in its efforts to block the travel order.

Supreme Court adds travel ban case to its busy agenda. Argument in April to include statutory, constitutional questions. #SCOTUS

Like earlier versions of the travel order, this one has become hung up in legal fights in the courts, though the Supreme Court ruled in December that the Trump Administration could enforce the ban while appeals are underway.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco – the Ninth Circuit – struck down the travel ban last month.

There is also a separate challenge against the President’s travel order going before the Fourth Circuit.

The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear #HawaiivsTrump, our challenge to Trump's travel ban. We look forward to the Court's review of this important case. @realdonaldtrump, see you in Court.

This is the third version of the President’s travel order – the first one, almost a year ago in late January of 2017, caused an uproar at airports in the United States, and was put on hold by a series of federal judges, after protests at airports over people who were denied entry to the U.S., even though they had legal visas and paperwork to visit.

A second travel order was issued less than two months later. It ultimately went into effect partially, as administration attempts to limit family visits from certain countries was re-tooled in the courts.

In addition to the QPs in the govt's petition (below), #SCOTUS has added the following: Does the travel ban violate the Establishment Clause? pic.twitter.com/PjwjLEPioL